More about our New York excursion

When we got to New York, we realized that it was the Puerta Rican day parade. We walked in Central park for a bit then decided to get out of the parade scene and take a tour bus that took us to all the sites in Manhattan.

While we were on our first bus, there was a little Asian lady that was the tour guide. As we jumped on the bus, she said "Where are you ladies from?" We told her Utah and then she asked, "Are you Mormons?" We told her yes and as we found our seats, I heard her tell the driver that "You know that 75% of the people from Utah are Mormons" Nancy (Ash's boss) said "why was that the first question she asked?" She thought it was pretty rude. While we were on the bus, she preceded to tell us that a few years prior, some girls had been jumped in Central Park during the Puerta Rican day celebration. I guess they were dressed pretty scantily. We all thought that she was just warning the girls to be careful, but then her next question was. "Do they let you out dressed like that?" "You don't have to wear all that garb?" Indicating head to toe. Nancy was the first to pick up on what she meant and promptly told her that we were not like Amish. We decided that she was confusing us with the FLDS women. We told her that we were not them, and she said "Oh, it's like the Christians where there are many different churches." At that point, we had to get off the bus so we didn't get to explain...

Another stop that we went to was Ground Zero. I remembered when it happened and I remember how patriotic everyone was. As time has gone by, people (me) just remember it as a really bad day. I think it had just became another day in history. Being there, and seeing it in real life really struck me hard. I envisioned the news all over... people running down the streets covered with dust. It was REAL!! There was an old church and cemetery with graves from the 1700's across the street from Ground Zero that were untouched by the disaster. What a miracle! I gained a new perspective for the people who were affected by this event.

I really enjoyed New York and can't wait to go back and spend a couple of days. Some of the things that I want to do when I go back: see a couple of Broadway plays, take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty, visit the Manhattan Temple, shop, visit a few museums, and go to the Empire State Building at night!! Other things I would like to do on the East coast... go to Boston and see a Red Sox game, the Sacred Grove.